Which had the sexiest scowl on it she’d ever seen.
Amused-and more-she plopped down beside him. “Heard about your day, Ace.”
He slid her a dark look that made her nipples hard before he went back to his cards.
“I’m in,” she said to Adam, who was dealing.
“Five-card draw.” Adam shuffled the deck like a pro. “And he had more than a hell of a day,” he said, tossing a look at Brady as he dealt, taking Lilah’s ten bucks and handing her a stack of chips. “He went with Dell on rounds. They were unable to save Mr. Williams’s dog after it got hit by a car, then got to the Cabreras’ in time to watch their elderly cat die, and as a bonus, on the way home, they headed out to a ranch and had to euthanize a horse with a broken leg.”
“It was just shit luck,” Dell said, studying his cards, tapping the table to indicate he was holding. “No one’s fault.”
Brady tossed in some chips. “Raise you five.”
“Fuck,” Adam said conversationally, but put in his five.
Since she had nothing, Lilah folded.
Dell tossed in his five and shook his head. “Best part is his new nickname.”
Lilah glanced at Brady, who was looking pained. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” Brady said, and adjusted his hat even lower over his face.
“Dr. Death,” Adam said, and flashed a rare grin.
“What?” Lilah burst out laughing. “Are you kidding me?”
The muscle in Brady’s jaw bunched and Adam shook his head, still grinning. “Now no one wants him to go along on out-calls anymore, no matter how badly they need Dell.”
Everyone but Brady cracked up. He just swore, with a colorful assortment of four-letter words. Lilah wanted to jump him right then and there, but she controlled herself.
Or maybe not quite.
Brady turned his head and met her gaze. He studied her a moment, and though he remained scowling, his eyes heated. He saw right through her, she realized, not knowing whether to be embarrassed or aroused.
So she settled for both.
They played two more rounds before Dell looked at the grease streaked down Lilah’s jeans. “Plumbing problems again?”
Her cabin had more problems than she could count, but she loved the old place ridiculously. For one thing, it was all she had of her grandma, and it was filled with precious memories that not even bad plumbing could erase.
For another, it was her only option, given that the money she made went back into the business or toward her tuition. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
“Lilah, you need to-”
“Change from brass to PVC. Yeah, I know.” She hadn’t budgeted for it this month. Or next month, for that matter. In fact, she wasn’t budgeted for anything anytime soon. “I’m babying the plumbing along for now.” Well aware of Brady studying her, she smiled. “Duct tape is a girl’s best friend.”
Adam shook his head.
Brady was still looking at her. Slowly his gaze dropped, taking in her clothes, probably wondering if she was wearing the lingerie. She gave him a secret smile. He didn’t return it, but his gaze singed her skin.
Her cell phone buzzed with a forwarded call from the office line, the one she used for the humane society, and she picked it up to hear Mrs. Sandemeyer’s voice.
“Someone did it again,” the elderly woman said in her eighty-year-old quavery voice. She lived on the outskirts of town right off the highway. “Dumped a dog they don’t want. I’ll hold her for you, dear.”
“Is the dog injured?”
“Not at all. And sweet as a lamb.”
Lilah closed her phone and reluctantly folded her cards. “I’m out.”
“But it’s just getting good,” Dell complained.
“Translation,” Adam said. “He thinks he’s about to kick our asses.”
“I don’t think it,” Dell said. “I know it.”
“Sorry.” Lilah rose. “Much as I look forward to that ass-kicking, I have to go. Someone dumped a dog off the freeway again.”
“Assholes,” Dell said. “Be careful, Lil.”
Brady stood up. “I’ll go with you.”
“No worries, I’ll call Cruz if I run into trouble,” Lilah said. “Finish playing.”
“It’s late.”
“She has Cruz,” Adam said softly. “It’s his job.”
Lilah patted Brady’s arm, nearly hummed in pleasure at the hard, knotted sinew of his biceps, and smiled. “Adam’s right. Stay for the ass-kicking.”
His eyes met hers, dark and unreadable, and more than her nipples reacted. Her heart actually skipped a beat.
Stupid heart. Because he was leaving soon, she reminded herself, ignoring the little ping in her belly at that thought. She was going to have to give him up, but then again, she was used to giving things up.
She gave her animals up all the time.
She’d given her grandma up.
She’d given certain dreams up, and knew she’d give up more before it was all said and done.
And she’d give up Brady when the time came. She would. Even if the little ache in her heart reminded her that there would be a price.
She was halfway to Mrs. Sandemeyer’s house when she got her second call of the night. This one from Cruz. “Babe,” he said, voice solemn. “Problem.”
“Well, it’ll have to get in line,” she said.
“There’s a tourist looking for a three-legged cat that she lost a month ago.”
Lilah’s heart, already aching, full-out stopped at this news. “What?” she whispered.
“She’s only just now seen the lost-and-found bulletins online. Lilah… ”
“Sadie,” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
Seemed she had one more thing she had to give up, after all.
Fifteen
B rady cleaned out both Dell and Adam at the poker table, which took his day from pure shit to pretty damn good, especially when Dell was reduced to whining.
By the time Brady and Twinkles got into his truck to drive back to the loft for the night, it was past midnight. Only he didn’t go to the center.
Instead, he turned right. Onto Lilah’s property. Twinkles got all perky as they passed the lake, but Brady kept driving. He didn’t believe in the legend, but neither did he believe in tempting fate. “Don’t want to risk you falling for the first dog you see.”
The dog snorted because even he knew it was Brady who was afraid to take the risk. He pulled up Lilah’s drive-way and Twinkles looked confused. “Don’t ask. I can’t explain it.”
Not even to himself. It wasn’t as if he needed to see her-although having her naked and writhing beneath him again would be nice. “I just… ”
Twinkles was listening, head cocked, and Brady let out a breath. “I’ m talking to a dog again.” And worse, he really didn’t know what he was doing here. He honest to God didn’t. He sure as hell didn’t want to talk. In fact, the only words he wanted to hear coming out of Lilah’s mouth were his name, how much she liked what he was doing to her, and whether or not she wanted it harder.
The kennels were dark. But the cabin’s kitchen was lit, so he and Twinkles headed that way and knocked on the front door.
Nothing.
He glanced back at Lilah’s Jeep. She was most definitely here. Was she with someone? Whoever had helped her with the rescues? Cruz…?
No, she’d still have answered the door. Or at least he sure as hell hoped so. He thought of all the reasons she’d be home alone with Cruz and not answer.
Finding that he didn’t much like any of those reasons, he knocked again, harder now.
Still no answer. Reaching out, he tried the handle. It turned under his hand. She’d indeed been here, working on the kitchen sink. The lower cabinet was open, tools strewn around, and the pipes were wrapped in duct tape at the seams.
But the sexy plumber was nowhere to be seen, and the cabin was empty, including the bed.
He checked.
Stepping back outside, intending to touch the hood of her Jeep to see if it was warm, he heard a soft gasp for breath that made him frown. “Lilah?”